she left her books, her car, her clothes~

[pembe]

and a note, but all she wrote was
'tonight i'm leaving on a train'
she said she's headed west to make it right
for one more night, and
well i don't blame her if she is

It was funny what two years of travelling really did to a wolf. She'd started out so naive and happily trusting, putting all faith in her mother up to the age of two. Then, when they'd parted, her mother had dropped the pretenses.

Be careful, she'd said, as the moon was dropping below the horizon and the sun was making the sky pink for the coming of day. The world is dangerous, but you must make your way by yourself. You must learn now that things don't always turn out how you plan, and other wolves can be hurtful. You must grow up.

Pembe had grown up.

She'd toiled through wind, hail, rain, sunshine, sleet, sheets of rain, and she'd encountered every wild beast she could think of- including some rather nasty wolves. But she could look after herself, most definitely, and that was proved in the way she stood here today. This clearing was beautiful, bright and the air was clear despite the autumn cold. It felt more homely than anywhere else, for quite some time. She padded forwards gently, soft blue-grey fur catching on the long grasses as her light eyes glanced around.

[risaisis]

The cool wind danced around him, hugging his lean body tight before stealing away with his scent. As it flew away, he lifted his muzzle high in the air, to scent what was upwind. He caught the smell of a she-wolf, though he couldn't identify her as either a Falling Moons or a Dancing Star.

Perhaps another loner? Of course it was. He was in the loner's territory, after all. The wolf rolled his eyes, dark, blue as the ocean, at the obviousness of the answer.

For a moment, Diego was about to turn and run; but there were no males around and he didn't think a little meet-and-great would hurt. He wanted to see who was in the area - if he was going to live here, as he had decided when he settled to join the Moons, he would need to know the wolves.

So, sucking in a deep breath as if preparing himself for a race, he swung around and loped towards the scent. He emerged from the shadow-filled bushes, his dark grey fur brushing along the leaves, and stepped out into the sunlit clearing. His eyes swept around, searching to see what they could find, and they locked on the blue-gray wolf across the way.

He felt like calling out, but instead he kept silent, lying down amid the talls grasses with his blue eyes on her. It wasn't a romantic gesture at all, for Diego didn't feel a thing for her; they hadn't even met yet. She was beautiful, true, but many wolves were - and that side of him was buried too deeply beneath him to be stirred by a mere image.

Instead, he watched her quietly, waiting for her to notice him.

[pembe]

but he thinks it's just one more sunset
and after all, it's her fault
if she hasn't caught on yet.

Pembe was no stranger to strangers. At this point in her life, she'd never before been in a pack, only having socialised with loners. Therefore it was odd when the scent that took half the valley was carried with this new wolf who entered the clearing, who settled down. Well, as he was settled, perhaps he did not want to hurt her? She was wary, anyway.

Still, she turned, and sat. Her pale paws were hidden behind the long grasses, among crackling gold and brown leaves. She let her light blue eyes wander around a little more, before definitely resting on this new male. He looked quite big, muscley, with a mix of grays and blacks in his pelt.

"Hello," she greeted him carefully, cautiously. He may be unstable, after all, and Pembe didn't want to get off to a bad start with anyone. It was her first day here, after all.

[risaisis]

Diego blinked in reply to the wolf's call, and he slowly pushed himself into a seating position, his tail lying in the thick grass. His muzzle lifted in the air as he opened his maw to bark, "Good morning." His voice was low, just reaching the she-wolf's ears.

He tilted his head curiously, noticing her slow movements, as if afraid to startle him. He bit back a sarcastic growl; he wasn't a rabbit, so easily startled! However, he understand her caution as she sat down as well, as if they would face each other off. His tail flicked, batting several golden-tinged leaves up into the air before they drifted softly back to the ground, landing in their resting places with a rustle.

He must have been emerging into a moderately happy mood, for Diego didn't spare a thought for anything other than the curious wolf before him.

[pembe]

so why d'you have to go?
is there something i could say
to make you turn around?
'cos nights like this i wish i'd said
don't go.

"Is it?" she murmured slightly, but relaxed more. Now that she really looked at him, this stranger was quite handsome. A good omen? Perhaps time would tell. A flicker of a smile appeared on her face, but something about this other wolf made her think he didn't smile very much. So she didn't expect a similar expression in return.

"Well, I suppose you would know," she smiled a little more, looking down and glancing up at him casually. She was beginning to feel more like herself as she relaxed. "I'm the stranger here, after all."

She sat up a little more, and evaluated him again, appraising him with her bright eyes.
"My name's Pembe," she introduced herself clearly, still smiling slightly. "What's yours?"

[risaisis]

"It can be . . . " he replied quietly to her first comment, blinking slowly, almost lazily. The wolf met her clear gaze with his own stormy blue eyes - though they held much less hints to his emotion than the tides of the oceans they resembled. With the seas, you could tell when she was feeling calm and sleepy, when she was maddened in fury.

His gaze flickered away as the she-wolf told him her name - Pembe. Pembe. Interesting name; it rolled off the tongue smoothly, a nice sound to it.

However, he could feel something in the air - she was a friendly wolf, and things seemed to be shifting. Knowing her name was helping this change - he hadn't wanted to know her name if that meant they could possibly become friends.

He didn't want friends. He didn't want anyone close to him, not now, even almost two years after . . . He let the thought trail, and instead of facing his past he turned his attention back to Pembe.

For some reason, he felt obliged to tell her his name. It took several moments for his jaw to open, showing sharp canines, to catch some sound from it. "Diego. Name's Diego," he grunted, just loud enough for Pembe to hear.

[pembe]

is there anybody there?
can anybody help
to get me out of here?
'cos you're walking down a road that i can't go

Pembe tilted her head to one side, and appraised him gently with her bright, inquisitive blue eyes. Something about him seemed to be holding back. Sure, he was big and muscley, but there was something hiding in those dark stormy eyes- Pembe wondered what had happened to make him so closed off.

It made her very curious, but she repressed it.

"Diego," she repeated slowly, letting the name slip off her tongue gently, syllable by syllable. She smiled a little, coyly, and tilted her head to the other side before bringing it up straight.

"Can I ask you a question, Diego?" she improvised, and didn't wait for an answer. It was a rhetorical question. "What's this place like? How do you fit in here? Think there's room for a loner with no specific motives in life? A shewolf strolling through life waiting for the amazing to find her?"

She looked him squarely in the eye, defiant. As if daring him to give a good answer, and show some life.

[risaisis]

Completely missing Pembe's curiousity to his simple answer, the gray wolf stood slowly, tail waving behind him.

At her question, Diego felt a tiny drop of his old self stir. He was unable to drop his gaze from her's, therefore taking in her dare; he didn't want to back down to this. Taking his time, he trotted forward several steps before stopping, his lips twitching in what seemed to be the beginnings of a smile. But it stopped before it reached even a half-smile.

"Pembe," he replied slowly, his voice somber. It didn't have quite as much playful seriousness as he wished for, but then again he had not been pushed to this type of talk since before the death. "This valley is as original as any - which is to say, none." Still, the serious ring to his voice, but with more words, more amusement managed to slip through, showing the she-wolf he could play.

"There are the good guys, there are the bad guys - good pack, bad pack. Any loner can manage to walk the thin line between them easily; you'll have no problems. If you're lucky, the amazing will find you soon; if not, troubled wolves will first. Who knows - maybe you'll recieve a bit of both."

Now would be when the old Diego would have winked and barked a laugh. But the gray wolf couldn't dive so deep, so soon. So he settled for a crack of a smile, eyes softening ever so slightly. It wasn't huge, but it was a start.

[pembe]

she said she's headed west to make it right
for one more night, and
well i don't blame her if she is

Pembe liked the way he said her name. Not in the obvious-oh-I-like-you-and-you're-saying-my-name sort of way, no. Because Pembe had only met him for a few minutes, of course. But the way he said it reminded her that she'd chewed up and spat out bigger wolves than him before, all it took was the right kind of words. But still, she didn't want to with Diego, not at the moment. He seemed like an alright kind of guy, maybe.

"Well thank you," she dipped her head. "I've been needing a slab of information like that my entire life. Funny how travelling shuts you off from the world." She reminisced slightly. "And isn't that funny... good guys, bad guys. Is the world so black and white?

"See, I didn't think it was. But maybe I was wrong. So, if I may, Diego. Another question. Are you a black or white wolf?" she asked, playing along with the metaphor, matching his playful seriousness while grinning herself.

[risaisis]

Diego nodded deeply, his eyes bright. He wanted to tell her that travelling could have negative effects; but it was also great for running. Of course, 'you can run, but you can never hide' - and the past always caught up someway or another. Hopefully, by then, you had had enough time to get used to the idea, so you could turn around and face your fears head on. If you tried, and failed, you could always turn and run once more, buying yourself more time, but not forever. Never forever . . .

These thoughts flickered to his mind, overwhelming him, and only when he realized that there was a silence in the clearing did he realize that Pembe had asked him a question, and was now waiting for a reply. His ears twitched, and his skin crawled with a blush but his dark grey fur hid it. He scrambled in his mind to recall what her question had been.

Black or white?

Yes, that had been it. His tail flicked, and he shook his head, his dark thoughts falling away like flimsy cobwebs.

"Why, I'm gray, of course," he blinked, gazing at her as if stating the obvious. "Can't you tell by looking at me? My fur is dark gray." He chuckled deeply, but the sound was so odd to his ears he quickly stopped. He hadn't chuckled in a while; he hadn't told a joke in even longer.

[pembe]

but he thinks it's just one more sunset
and after all, it's her fault
if she hasn't caught on yet

The corner of Pembe's mouth lifted, and she laughed lightly at his joke. She wasn't sure if he would ever play along with that sort of a metaphor, and the way he stopped laughing quickly (as if the sound was strange), made her stop as well. She lifted herself onto her feet, hesitated for a moment, and then padded forwards so she was a little closer to him.

"Diego, if you don't mind me saying. I can't really seem to work you out," she said, conversationally and truthfully. Her bright blue eyes were soft and inquisitive as they glanced over his features. "You smell like a pack wolf, but I can't work out which pack you're in... if there's good guys and bad guys, like you said, then what I've seen so far of you has confused me."

She frowned a little.
"I think I'm not making much sense," she sighed, rolling her eyes.

[risaisis]

Diego blinked in surprise, his body instantly tensing as Pembe danced closer, her bright blue eyes shining in the sunlight. As she spoke, Diego listened with a cocked ear. He thought he had been quite easy to figure out, silent and withdrawing deeper within himself. That wasn't how he was acting now, though. This side of him had been buried away. Somehow, Pembe had brough the young charismatic wolf back out in the sunlight, like the hybernating creatures waking after the winter's chill melted away.

His tail flicked, and he blinked again. "No, you are making sense," he told her slowly, smiling slightly, before frowning thoughtfully. "But I don't know if I can really explain to you . . . It's difficult." The single word didn't seem to sum up everything, this small, simple word. Difficult was hunting in winter, swimming upstream against a strong current, fighting with a furious battering wind.

'Emotional distressing' was more like it.

"But," he started again, moving forward as if to nudge her friendly, before stopping himself. "Enough of me. What about you?" he asked, honestly curious; he hoped he wasn't prying. Pembe didn't seem as if she was running from anything, so she must have left . . .wherever she came from . . . willingly, happily. It seemed odd.

[pembe]

so why d'you have to go?
is there something i could say
to make you turn around?
'cos nights like this i wish i'd said
don't go.

She watched him curiously as he seemed to stop mid-gesture, and spoke instead. She had to remember what he'd said, so a frown covered her face for a moment, before she smiled again.

"What about me? Can't work me out either?" she laughed lightly, gazing him straight in the eyes for a moment before smiling and looking down. Something about the movement was flirtacious, and confident, and yet another part of it was charmingly vulnerable. Her inquisitive blue eyes flickered up once again, and she stood up and stepped back a little, looking around.

"I'm a bit of a loner, I guess you could say. Never really joined a pack. Too much effort, drama, you know the whole shebang," she looked down at him again, and her ears flickered as if wondering if he wanted to know more.

[risaisis]

Diego cracked a small smile as she gazed at him confidently, before looking away, smiling. His fur ruffled as he wondered if he was doing that, causing this flirting. Was it flirting? Diego couldn't even remember what 'flirting' meant, it had been so long. Still, it was amusing - in a good way. It felt nice, to be able to talk to someone.

Sure, we can call it flirting. Why not? he mused silently, his pluming silver-gray tail switching back and forth.

"I know," he replied after a moment's thought. "Unless you're with the right pack, nothing else seems to work. At least, that's what it feels like for me." He added the last sentence as an afterthought, his head cocked thoughtfully. His eyes flickered for a moment, before they returned to Pembe curiously.

"So, is that all there is to your story? Just wandering around, following your whims, living off your instincts?" he prodded, sitting down in the tall, flowing grass. He briefly flashed back to his life as a loner; he had lost himself in the wilderness, not interacting with anyone. Only the need for companionship had brought him to the Falling Moons.